With about two thirds of the season left, Madison College women’s basketball coach Angel Whetstone has a plan to keep the team motivated. 

 “Everyday we work together on building as a team,” she said. 

Her first year as head coach started slightly rocky as she only had five players. After reaching out to other Madison College athletes she was able to get a hold of four more. The cross athletes that joined the team were Addyson McHugh (volleyball), Tazhia Aune (soccer), Mirella Ziellke (soccer), and Shayla Mendonca (soccer).  

“They bring a different energy, for soccer you have 11 people on the field and for volleyball you have six but they have a lot of energy, and they bring that for this team,” Whetstone said.  

During the first quarter the team put up a great fight against Lake County on Nov. 29. Within the first 5 minutes Kayla Staveness  laid down two 3-point shots tying the game at 7-7. Both Mya Baker and Addyson McHugh put up a great defense throughout the game but especially during the first quarter.

Kaylee Anzalone’s ball handling skills were shown heavily in the first two quarters. This got her to shoot her first 3-point shot of the night about 8 minutes into the first quarter.  

During the second quarter, Lake County was able to take the lead. Although points continued to add up, Madison College’s spirits did not change. At half the score was 43-19, Lake County. Madison College eventually lost 79-32. 

Whetstone talked about how the team is working on getting through each quarter as it is presented to them. Because of a lack of numbers the players are not able to substitute positions as often as they would like.  

Towards the end of the game you could tell our players were spent. Throughout this you could still see the passion each girl had for their team, and could hear a few, “good jobs, keep it up, and you’re doing great.”  

Whetstone spoke a lot about perseverance with her players, “how do you continue to preserve, are you going to fight every single day?” She explained how she pushes her players to persevere through each game, and is so proud they are not quitting out mid game.  

 “Our motto for this season is being 1% better, how can we be 1% better for tomorrow” and can really be seen from their progress over the season thus far. Whetstone keys in on “the little things that we are doing, and we have to continue to do them so we can put together a really good game,” Whetstone said.  

The team does not have 10 players so scrimmaging at practice is not an option for these girls. 

 “Practice is not 5v5, so never full court in practice,” said Whetstone. “When you get into a game you have to adjust from practice.” 

Because of this, the team watches a lot of film from previous games to be able to see how things play out. 

“We played Lake County a couple weeks ago so we watched a lot of film of what we did, and we got better and we changed some things up, but still not having those bodies it kinda hurts us a little bit,” the coach said. 

Lastly, Whetstone touched on what a successful year would look like for her.  

“It’s my first year here and I just want to take this year in, because I will never have a first year again, I just want to enjoy it, I hope they’re enjoying it,” she said.  

Whetstone admits it’s tough to lose. “But I hope they can remember the little things. I want them to enjoy the moment, because for me I’ll never have this back. That is what success means to me,” she said.